• CEO Kay Kratky to leave the company at the age of 60 – contract ends in July 2018
  • Alexis von Hoensbroech will be the new CEO of Austrian Airlines, subject to Supervisory Board approval

Alexis von Hoensbroech (47), currently a Member of the Executive Board and Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Lufthansa Cargo, is to be appointed to the position of new CEO and Chairman of the Management Board of Austrian Airlines effective August 1, 2018. He will be the designated successor of Kay Kratky, who will leave the company when he turns 60. The Supervisory Board first has to approve this proposal.

“I am pleased to propose to the Supervisory Board to approve the appointment of Alexis von Hoensbroech as the successor to Kay Kratky and thus the CEO of Austrian Airlines”, says Harry Hohmeister, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Austrian Airlines. “Alexis has the perfect know-how to lead Austrian Airlines in the next phase and establish it as a profitable premium carrier in the highly competitive Austrian market.”

Alexis von Hoensbroech studied physics at the University of Bonn before obtaining a doctorate in an astrophysics-related subject at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy and at the University of Bonn. Born in the Rhineland, he commenced his professional career in 1999 at the management consultancy company The Boston Consulting Group in Munich and Tokyo. In 2005, he moved to Lufthansa Passage, where he assumed responsibility for its Strategy & Subsidiaries division. In 2009, Alexis von Hoensbroech was named “Project Manager for Airline Integration Management”, where he was in charge of the integration of Austrian Airlines in the Lufthansa Group, amongst other duties. In the years 2010-2014, von Hoensbroech was appointed as “Head of Commercial Frankfurt”, with responsibility for network planning and sales steering at the Lufthansa flight hub in Frankfurt. In this position he worked closely with Kay Kratky, who at that time served on the Management Board of Lufthansa Passage. Since 2014, he has held the position of CCO and Member of the Executive Board of Lufthansa Cargo AG. Von Hoensbroech is married and the father of five children.

Contingent upon the consent of the Supervisory Board, the Management Board team of Austrian Airlines will consist of Alexis von Hoensbroech as CEO, Andreas Otto as CCO and Wolfgang Jani as CFO starting on August 1, 2018.